The Disappearing Read Free

spent eating, swimming, and laughing. In fact, they were having so much fun, it was easy to forget that Eva was still gone.

Chapter 4
Party Games
    That night, the boys met up at Luke’s house. His dad was back in town and had invited everyone over for a last day of summer feasting.
    â€œHope you guys are hungry,” Rusty called out as he balanced several plates of marinated meat and headed out the back door to the grill.
    They most certainly were.
    The girls would be arriving soon, as well as most of their other friends from school.
    All the kids loved Rusty’s house.
    Actually, ‘house’ was probably not the right word. It was a huge, rambling estate where one could easily get lost. But not Tim. He knew every nook and cranny of the house and every trail, path, and hill on the land where it sat.
    They had all shared a lot of great memories at this place.
    As young kids, they spent hours upon hours playing outside—games like tag, hide and seek, or some other crazy made-up game. They had a lot of those.
    Some days they could be found climbing the massive trees that dotted the property, and other days they explored the massive spider web of nature trails spanning the grassy acreage.
    But truth be told, the best times were had inside.
    The massive house smelled of fresh wood. It had three floors as well as an attic and an enormous basement. Its long hallways led to room after room just waiting to be explored.
    During one particularly intense game of hide and seek, it had taken his friends over an hour to locate his hiding spot.
    There were just so many good places to disappear in this house.
    Everyone had started to arrive for the last gathering of summer. In a few days, it would be back to school.
    A huge bonfire roared. The flames from dozens of torches staked out across the property rose into the air.
    Typically, there would be music from some local live band. But tonight’s cookout was a quieter, more somber event because Eva had not come home yet.
    â€œI thought of canceling it,” Rusty had said to them earlier. “But I think it’s good for everyone to be together, to have a little fun, and get their mind off everything for a night.”
    Within about an hour, dozens of kids had arrived. Some were eating hot dogs and hamburgers, a few had started up a game of volleyball, and others were milling around talking and catching up with friends.
    But everyone had the same thing on their minds—Eva.
    It was dark now and a full day had passed since she had gone missing.
    â€œHey,” called out Max as he rode up the path on his skateboard, kicking it up into his hands as he reached Tim. “Want to go get some food?”
    Tim nodded in agreement. The two headed down to the massive grill, selected two juicy burgers, and then proceeded to fill the remaining space on their plates with beans, potato salad, and some sort of marshmallow fruit thing.
    Luke ran up behind them and grabbed a roll.
    â€œWhere are the girls?” he asked.
    â€œNot sure, should be here somewhere,” Tim responded, wiping barbecue sauce from his chin.
    He needed a napkin; a bit of the sticky sauce still clung to his face. As he turned to grab one from the table, he was face to face with Nina.
    â€œHey you,” she whispered.
    How could two little words sound so perfect?
    â€œHey back,” he tried to sound as sultry as she did, but quickly remembered the sauce on his face and felt like a jerk.
    â€œI was looking for you . . .” he continued, but noticing Emily standing there, too, changed his wording mid-speak.
    â€œI was looking for you girls.”
    Nina smiled and gazed up at him with those eyes, those perfectly green eyes.
    â€œI made cookies,” she teased. “You have to try them.”
    She didn’t have to ask twice.
    Tim felt light-headed. Or maybe it was just love.
    It started when they were young kids. Their parents had shipped them off to a sleep-away camp just